{ Biking at Callaway Gardens }

Earlier in the week, we took a day of Spring Break and headed up to Callaway Gardens to go on a family bike ride. Before Christmas, the kids all got new bikes, and had taken many bike rides together, but we had yet to go on a big family ride. They have bikes to rent at Callaway, so we loaded up all the kids bikes along with our bike trailer for the little boys, and planned to rent ones for Aaron and I once we got there.

When we arrived, we were surprised and excited to find out that military employees get to rent for free, so we were able to keep the bikes all day, not just a couple of hours like we had planned before. It was great to take our time and enjoy the scenery. Callaway has bike paths all around the lake, through the woods and surrounding the picturesque golf course. It was a beautiful day to go. All the spring azaleas were in bloom, and the trees were getting all their greenness back to them.

We had brought a lunch to have a nice picnic before we started out, and we ended up eating right in the middle of a new project they had started. In the middle of the woods, they were building a huge tree top rope course with zip lines, and wood stepping platforms everywhere. It was quite the thing to see. We are super excited to come back later this summer when they have it all completed to play on it.

After lunch we packed up Abby and Ryan in the bike trailer that I pulled, and Aaron took Scott on the back on his bike. I hadn’t realized that my kids had never seen me ride a bike before, and they thought it was quite entertaining. It is true once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget-but when you haven’t rode a bike in quite a few years, and you haven’t really exercised for the last six months since having a baby, it is quite a site to see. Pulling the trailer was so much harder than I thought, but I am so short that I didn’t have good enough balance on the bike to ride with Scott. It was hard enough just finding an adult size bike that my short legs could fit on. Once we got going though, it was a beautiful ride through the woods. Ryan loved being in the trailer, and barely made a peep. He is such an easy baby!

We took quite a few breaks to have snacks and water breaks, and slow down for me to catch up. One of the prettiest places we stopped was by the lake and the golf course. The lake was just so calm, except for the occasional duck or turtles that would poke their heads up out of the water.

This tree was our favorite. It was this huge canopy of green, with a perfect spot to sit underneath. It reminded me of someplace in England where people come out to have their afternoon tea. It was quite nice. We decided that we do indeed need a nice big tree like this by our house. I think we are just going to have to wait a few decades for it though.   

 

Once we stopped for a break, Scott was obsessed with putting his own helmet back on. Since trying to reason with a  two year old is pretty much out of the question, we just let him have his fun while we relaxed a little longer.

Our littlest rider was so happy to ride in the trailer. Our original plan was to put the little boys in the trailer and let Abby ride on the back of Aaron’s bike with a small bike attachment. I don’t know the official name, but it looks like a tandem bike, but hers is little. Anyways, she was blessed with short little legs like me, so her feet wouldn’t even reach the pedals. We settled on plan B, which worked out so much better.  Ryan was free from Scott’s constant tormenting, and Abby got a free ride. It made for such a fun trip. Abby would ask me questions and have little talks with Ryan when he wasn’t sleeping.

We finished up our ride around the lake by the beach, played a quick round of mini golf and shuffleboard, and then headed back to our car. It was the perfect way to spend a spring day.